seo best practices 2014
TRANSCRIPT
SEO Best Practices 2014
Pierre M. Fiorini, Ph.D.
Managing Partner
CF Search Marketing
About CF Search Marketing
• Founded in 2007
• 2 Locations
– Miami, FL – Portsmouth, NH
• Chrysler Preferred Vendor since 2013
– Digital Advertising – SEO – Social Media/Reputation Management
• Goals as a Provider
– Performance – Service – Technology
Overview
• SEO Overview/Terminology – Case study On-Page SEO
• What changed in 2013?
– Case Study Link Profiles
• SEO Best Practices 2014
– On-Page SEO – Off-Page SEO – Social Signals – Mobile Strategy – SEO/SEM Synergy
• Dealer SEO Checklist
What is SEO?
• Search Engine Optimization (SEO) - A way to improve rankings in organic search
SEO
SEM
SEO Why Bother?
• FREE TRAFFIC!!!
SEO/FREE
SEM/PAID
SEO Why Bother?
• Also…
– SEO traffic is highly converting traffic
– People trust organic results more than paid
– Local organic traffic produces 2X as many leads as localized PPC traffic
How To Do SEO…
• Essentially, 4 things to do…
1. ON-PAGE SEO
2. OFF-PAGE SEO
3. Generate Local Signals
4. Generate Social Signals
How To Do SEO…
• On-Page SEO
– Things you actually PHYSICALLY do to your site…
• Content for your site (Make/Model Pages, etc.)
• Title Tags
• Meta Tags
• Description Text
• Putting up Specials
• Etc.
On-Page SEO: Case Studies
• Audi Mission Viejo – Clean, sleek design – Needs more home page content
• Cities, services, etc.
– Home Page Title tags need more geos – Not much original content about Makes/Models
• Montrose Mazda of Kent
– Reasonable amount of home page content – Title tags contain GEO’s – Not much original content about Makes/Models
• Earnhardt Gilbert Dodge – Tons of Home page content – Geos in Title Tags – Original Content about Makes/Models
How To Do SEO…
• Off-Page SEO
– Things you do OFF your site…
• Link Building (i.e., links from bloggers, bookmarks, etc.)
• Citations (i.e., local directory listings)
• Etc.
Off-Page SEO - Example
How To Do SEO…
• Generate Local Signals
– Google Asks: How relevant are you for local searches? (e.g., dodge dealers las vegas, dodge dealers [GEO], etc.)
– Answer: Proximity, local mentions of your dealership
• Local sites (Parts, Pizza, Golf, University, etc.)
• Local Bloggers
• Local Social Sharing (e.g., Facebook, Twitter, Reddit.com, etc.)
• Local Directories & Citations
Local Signals Examples - Citations
• A great local signal coming from CitySearch:
– Audi Mission Viejo
How To Do SEO…
• Social Signals – What is a “social signal”?
• Likes, Google+ Links, +1’s, mentions, tweets, re-tweets, etc., you get from Google+, FB, Twitter, Reddit.com, Social Bookmark sites, etc.
– Google has definitively said that “social signals” count in their organic ranking algorithm
– BUT, nobody knows for sure how much… • Google has limited crawl access to FB, Twitter, etc. • May be getting information from Google Analytics
How To Do SEO…
• The pieces of the puzzle…
GOOGLE ORGANIC
RANK ←
OVER 200+
Signals!
How To Do SEO…
• The pieces of the puzzle…
GOOGLE ORGANIC
RANK
On-Page SEO
Off-Page SEO =
+
+ Social Signals
Local Signals
What’s Changed???
• Major Algorithm Changes
– Panda (2011 - current) – Penguin (2012, 2013) – Hummingbird Update (2013)
• Google Wants
– A GREAT user experience – No SPAMMY on-page stuff – Unique content – Natural Linking
• Bad links can actually hurt you now – Google used to ignore bad links for the most part…
On-Page Factors
Off-Page Factors
Voice Search
Panda/Farmer Updates (2011-Current)
Panda Update Summary • A major algorithm update hit
sites hard, affecting ~12% of search results (huge!)
• Panda seemed to crack down on thin content, content farms, sites with high ad-to-content ratios, and a number of other quality issues.
• Panda has rolled out numerous times over the years – now incorporated into algorithm.
Penguin 1.0 (April 2012)
Penguin 1.0 (April 2012)
Manipulative Anchor Text Examples – EXACTLY the stuff Penguin 1.0 was looking for… dodge philadelphia pa
chrysler dealers tx
I.e., “Money Keywords” (keywords used in AdWords)
Penguin 1.0 (April 2012)
• Summary
– Targeted Manipulative Anchor Text
– ~3.1% of all queries affected
– 1st time EVER Google went after this type of stuff
– Google went after Link schemes
– Targeted “Over-Optimization” – Only the home page was used in Google’s analysis – Google targeted “money keywords”
• dodge dealers nm
• honda brockton ut
• Etc.
Penguin 2.0, 2.1
• Penguin 2.0 (May 2013)
– Targeted ALL pages of the website
– Targeted same type of stuff (money kws)
– ~2.3% of all queries affected
• Penguin 2.1 (Oct 2013)
– Targeted same type of stuff (money kws)
– ~1.0 of all search queries affected
Case Study: Link Profiles
• Untouched Link Profile – Problem is NOT enough links (13 different domains) – www.montrosemazdakent.com
• Natural Link Profile – Lots of links – www.reemantoll.com
• “SEO Footprint”
– The type Google Penguin goes after... – www.audimv.com
Hummingbird Update
Google’s Hummingbird Update (Aug 2013?)
• Hummingbird is a new search algorithm that affects 90 percent of all searches.
• Examines the searcher’s query as a whole understands the meaning behind it.
• For longer, conversational queries, Google now gives much better results – Voice search
PREDICTION: Hummingbird will make long tail searches more & more important!
SEO Strategies 2013 & Beyond
• Improve On-Page SEO Strategy – Unique Content (Panda Farmer update) – No “SPAMMY” keyword ladened text (Panda may factor this) – Create GREAT user experience to improve site metrics
• Elevate Off-Page SEO Strategy – Content Marketing – Guest Posting on blogs – “Natural” linking (huge factor in Penguin)
• Utilize “Social Sharing”
• Implement Mobile SEO Strategy
• Leverage SEO/SEM Synergy
SEO Strategies 2013 & Beyond – On-Page SEO
• Make sure content is UNIQUE and WELL-WRITTEN
With Panda, all sites are given QUALITY SCORE – the better content you have, the higher you’ll rank (Panda Farmer Update)
SEO Strategies 2013 & Beyond – On-Page SEO
• Avoid “SPAMMY” keyword ladened text…
With Panda, all sites are given QUALITY SCORE – the better content you have, the higher you’ll rank
“Welcome to ABC Dodge. Your Dodge dealer in Boston, MA serving Boston Massachusetts and the surrounding areas of Boston where Boston is a great city and we love the Red Sox in Boston where you can win FREE tickets if you live in the Boston area…”
SEO Strategies 2013 & Beyond – On-Page SEO
• Create a GREAT User Experience…
With Panda, all sites are given QUALITY SCORE – the better content you have, the higher you’ll rank
• The Panda algorithm uses site metrics to “score” your site
• The site “Quality Score” is based on things like:
• Time on Site
• Pages/Visit
• Page Load Time
• Other factors…
• Make Your Site Interesting to help these factors
• Make sure your links are as “natural” as possible…
SEO Strategies 2013 & Beyond – Off-Page SEO
With Penguin, bad links can actually hurt you (Google used to ignore most of these)
• Do Linkbuilding by: – Content Marketing
• Hosting your content on real blogs (link back to your site)
– Guest Posting
• Posting as an expert in area on a real blog (link back to your site)
– Establishing local relationships
• Get links from them
– Real “Natural Linking”
• Infographics
• Natural Links are “Holy Grail” for SEO folks…
SEO Strategies 2013 & Beyond – Off-Page SEO
• One approach is to use “Infographics”
• Generates tons traffic and NATURAL links to your site
• Natural links generated by infographic…
SEO Strategies 2013 & Beyond – Off-Page SEO
Blogger’s talking about this site and linking!
NATURAL LINKS!!!
• “Share” your content on the social networks such as Google+, FB, Twitter, Pinterest, Reddit, etc.
• Here, an “inventory page” is being posted to Google+, FB & Twitter – This helps the page get indexed and ranked higher in
SEO Strategies 2013 & Beyond – Social Sharing
• Traffic from Social Sharing
SEO Strategies 2013 & Beyond – Social Sharing
• 1000+ visits from Social Media sites
• Sending a strong “Social Signal” to Google
• Mobile traffic is on the rise...
• Mobile traffic will surpass desktop sometime in 2014
SEO Strategies 2013 & Beyond – Mobile Strategy
• The best mobile strategy is to make sure that you show up in Google Map Searches
SEO Strategies 2013 & Beyond – Mobile Strategy
• You can improve your positions in the maps by making sure you have updated “business listings”
• Also, make sure you have a mobile site and make sure metrics like page load time, bounce rates, time on site are good
• Google is ranks sites better if they have a “good user mobile experience”
• How Business listings affect rankings…
• Make sure you are listed in these and have correct information! (address + phone no)
SEO Strategies 2013 & Beyond – Mobile Strategy
• Make sure you do SEM (PPC + Display) along with SEO
SEO Strategies 2013 & Beyond – SEO/SEM Synergy
• Make sure you do SEM (PPC + Display) along with SEO
– PPC & Display helps generate organic traffic
– When both an organic and PPC listing show up, people are 50% more likely to click on one of your links
– PPC can generate social signals
– Performance of website is always best when both SEO & PPC are utilized
SEO Strategies 2013 & Beyond – SEO/SEM Synergy
Dealer SEO Checklist (5 point list)
1. Are you adding content to your site on a monthly basis?
2. Are your title tags optimized?
3. Are you adding meta tags – Description, Keywords, Microdata, etc.
4. Are you building links to your site? – What is the anchor text? – Where, what, & how many? – Are you establishing local relationships?
5. Are you building/updating citations? – Yellowbook, Judy’s Book, etc.
Thank You
• Please talk to my associate to do a review of your website and your Internet marketing strategies – SEO Audit
– SM/RM Audit
– SEM (PPC, Display, Retargeting, etc.) Audit
• Also visit BOOTH 1137 – Same row as Haystak, Cobalt, DealerX